Oct 23, 2013 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's petroleum exploration office and the university system are looking to expand petroleum related courses as the country's oil and gas industry is beginning to taking off, officials said.

There is already one working exploration block operated by Cairn India which may start producing by 2017 and another bidding round is expected to conclude next months for more offshore blocks.

"With the end of the second bidding round on November 29 there would be a significant increase in offshore petroleum exploration activities..," Saliya Wickramasuriya, head of Sri Lanka's Petroleum Development Secretariat told a forum in Colombo Tuesday.

The PRDS and the University Grants Commission, a state agency in charge of tertiary education in Sri Lanka hosted two day workshop to develop a master plan on graduate and post-graduate courses related to a growing oil and gas industry.

The industry requires specialists in petroleum sciences and technology, geophysics, and geochemistry as well as other areas such as economics, risk management, engineering, logistics, information technology, contractual law.